Catalunya: Campos qualifying report

ROMAIN GROSJEAN POLE, VITALY PETROV 3RD
FANTASTIC RESULT FOR THE BARWA CAMPOS TEAM IN THE FIRST GP2 SERIES RACE
IN MONTMELO.
The first official practice of the new GP2 Series got under way this
afternoon at the Catalan circuit of Montmelo....

ROMAIN GROSJEAN POLE, VITALY PETROV 3RD

FANTASTIC RESULT FOR THE BARWA CAMPOS TEAM IN THE FIRST GP2 SERIES RACE
IN MONTMELO.

The first official practice of the new GP2 Series got under way this
afternoon at the Catalan circuit of Montmelo. The first race will take
place tomorrow with Romain Grosjean in pole position and his team-mate
Vitaly Petrov, who will start from third place on the starting grid. This
has been a spectacular performance from the Barwa Campos Team after
having dominated the free practice session in the morning, with the two
drivers finishing first and second at the end of the session. They
couldn't wish for a better start to the season.

After today's official practice we have to take into account that the
first three drivers at the end of the session all belong to Spanish
teams. The Valencian team is represented by two of the top three which is
testimony to the hard work and expertise of the Barwa Campos Team. It
also means that Romain has picked up the first two points of the season
for his pole postion, which puts him and the team at the top of the
leaderboard of their respective championships.

The presentation of the new season and the prize giving ceremony for the
recent Asia GP2 Series took place yesterday afternoon. Alejandro Agag,
owner of the Barwa Campos Team was there to collect the prize for the
team, having finished in third place overall. In a statement he made it
clear that it would be difficult to improve on last year's performances,
where they won the overall team title and had a driver in the top three.

The GP2 is considered to be the second most important class behind
Formula 1. There are no less than seven drivers in the field who have
competed in the highest class and another seven who have developed as
test drivers for different F1 teams. Once again this season there will be
a field of 26 drivers from 13 different teams and this year's season is
made up of ten events, nine of which coincide with F1 events on the
European calendar.

In Spain the TV channel, La Sexta will broadcast the GP2 Series races
this weekend. The TV channel run by the COPE, Popular TV have just
announced that they will broadcast both races live at 16.00 hrs on
Saturday and at 10.30 on Sunday. The races look to be well setup for
Spanish teams and drivers, so it promises to be exciting.

Romain Grosjean: "It has been a good day for the whole team. To get
pole is very important for us because it's the first race of the season
and gives an indication of how well everybody is working, from Alberto
(Longo) right down to the last mechanic. I can't wait for tomorrow's
race. Even though we weren't competing, the tests were very important and
have meant that we were the quickest in the morning and the afternoon,
which is the best way to start the season. We expect Di Grassi to be
tough but having Vitaly there as well is perfect for the team. It's going
to be difficult to win tomorrow because the tyres will be an important
factor but we will do our best".

Vitaly Petrov: "I'm very happy with the car and the team but not
with the traffic we had out there. I was setting great times in the first
and second sectors, including better times than my rivals, but I lost
time in the third sector due to the traffic, even though I tried to look
after the tyres to see if I could get in one fast lap. Anyway, we'll see
what happens at the start, and how the tyres perform. Who can get the
best out of their tyres will be the key".